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Exploring our favourite video games from the year 2006
This blog series is all about the best games of the last 20 years. George and Matt from the Monitor Audio team take a look at each year and pick their favourites. In this post, we’ll be going back to the year 2006.
Do you agree with our list? Let us know your favourite games from the year 2006 on Facebook and Twitter!
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - George's Top Pick
Bethesda Game Studios | Bethesda Softworks & 2K Games | Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3
In the fourth instalment of the series, Bethesda Game Studios took us to the beautiful open-world of Cyrodiil, a province of Tamriel.
Six years after the events of Morrowind, you begin imprisoned in a cell for an unknown crime, but must escape, alongside Emperor Uriel Septim and his Imperial guards, known as Blades, after unknown assassins attack them. After assisting, the Emperor pardons the player; and is entrusted with the Amulet of Kings, before the Emperor is killed. The Amulet is to be taken to Jauffre, the grandmaster of the Blades, but before he can get there, a dangerous realm from another dimension known as Oblivion descends upon Cyrodiil.
With multiple gates open across the land, the grandmaster asks the player to find an illegitimate son of Uriel named Martin. Part of the royal bloodline, he is the heir and only he can close the gates permanently, using the Amulet and relighting the Dragonfires. After breaking through the first Great Gate, you venture into the one of the planes of Oblivion, the Deadlands, full of magical creatures known as Daedra. Along with the guardsmen, you successfully close the gate, but are soon on a quest to take back the Amulet, which has been stolen by assassins part of a fanatical cult known as the "Mythic Dawn". The cult, who killed the Emperor, worships Mehrunes Dagon, the god of destruction, first mentioned in Morrowind. After their leader Mankar escapes through a portal, you work with Jauffre and Martin to recreate the portal.
Later, you despatch Mankar, return the Amulet and relight the Dragonfires in an attempt to bring an end to the invasion. Standing in their way is Mehrunes Dagon, who Martin must defeat, by allowing the amulet to consume his soul, to shut the gates of Oblivion once and for all.
Following the same recipe as the other games in the series, the hundreds of side quests and interesting storylines outside of the central plot helped push this to become of the best RPG games of all time. The NPC voice acting is impressive and also hilarious. When they introduced The Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles DLC, it took it to another level, ensuring that Oblivion is hands down my favourite Bethesda game to date.
Okami - Matt's Top Pick
Clover Studios | Capcom | PlayStation 2 and Wii
Independent Japanese game developer Clover Studios brings us a masterpiece in visual design and gameplay in the form of Okami.
The game is set in a folklore version of ancient Japan (Nippon), following the story of Amaterasu, the sun goddess who is called upon after Orochi, an eight-headed demon is unleased. Amaterasu must travel throughout the Nippon, using her celestial brush, a magical paintbrush and canvas to restore the land to its previous glory of life and colour.
Inspired by elements of the Legend of Zelda series, Okami has you exploring countryside, battling enemies with an assortment of weapons and solving dungeon style puzzles, whilst meeting a cast of colourful characters throughout the story.
What truly makes this adventure unforgettable is the beautiful art style, made from classic Japanese Ukiyo-e style watercolours and wood carvings, Sumi-e style brush techniques and modern day cel-shading. This gives the entire game the feeling of a living artwork.
Okami’s music is heavily inspired by traditional Japanese works, winning Best Score at the 2007 BAFTA Game Awards.
It’s been carried through from the PS2 to modern day consoles with a 4K port and still proves as an experience that shouldn’t be missed.
Dead Rising
Capcom Production Studio 1 | Capcom | Xbox 360
Capcom’s first entry in this unique series offered a beat’ em up like no other, as you navigate and attempt to escape from a zombie horde in a shopping mall, using whatever you can get your hands on.
You control Frank, a journalist who follows a lead about something mysterious happening in the town of Willamette, Colorado. Flown by pilot Ed, the helicopter drops Frank onto the roof of the Willamette Parkview Mall, and he soon learns of a town wide quarantine, due to a zombie outbreak. With the help of the janitor, he takes refuge in the security room of the mall, before encountering civilians and agents of the Department of Homeland Security inside fighting the zombies. Due to the communications being down, they are unable to contact one another but soon Frank is on a mission to find medicine for the sick and injured.
You soon realise that the key to the outbreak is a man named Santa Cabeza, who distributed experimental drugs, first tested on cattle, which had a terrible effect and consequently turned the users into zombies. Santa was situated in a research facility and tested a species of native wasp in an attempt to boost the performance of cattle, with horrifying consequences. After finding out the drug ring is here within the mall, Frank must escape to report on the origin of the outbreak and foil Santa Cabeza's operation.
I loved exploring the different endings, which were dependant on a number of parameters throughout the game, based on choices made. The main mode enables you to investigate a number of case files, as you determine who is part of Santa’s operation, progressing though the main story. With only three days before Ed returns to collect you, time is not on your side and whilst you question each character you meet, you have the more daunting task of avoiding the hordes of incoming zombies. Once you complete the game, the real fun can begin as you have unlimited time to roam around the mall using every element of the environment to survive. As you complete missions and fight off up to eight hundred zombies at once, you earn Prestige Points, which can be used to level up and improve the inventory, effecting how much you can carry.
With over two hundred items to kill the zombies, alongside the usual firearms, the items range from children's toys, traffic cones, frying pans and many more. Dead Rising is relentless, mindless, but a lot of fun, with plenty to do.
Just Cause
Avalanche Studios | Eidos Interactive | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 & Windows
This incredible open-world adventure from Avalanche Studios was ambitious and insanely brilliant.
Your character Rico Rodriguez is dropped onto San Esperito, a fictitious tropical island in the Caribbean. Rico, a sophisticated agent who works for an organisation called the Agency, meets with Tom Sheldon, his commanding officer. With the help of the Agency, Rico is tasked with overthrowing a dictator on San Esperito by the name of Salvador Mendoza. It’s the Agency’s belief that Salvador has access to weapons of mass destruction, so it’s your job to meet with a guerrilla group to help remove him from power. After meeting with Sheldon and Maria Kane, another agent, you move forward with the guerrilla group to first defeat the Rioja drug cartel. As the game progresses, you find yourself liberating territories throughout San Esperito, fighting corrupt officials, mercenaries and cartel gangs.
As the civil war intensifies, you push forward from San Esperito to a private presidential island just off the mainland, where Mendoza has retreated. As you arrive, Mendoza is attempting to escape via a jet, which you must board. After despatching his bodyguards, you finally defeat Mendoza, bringing an end to his regime and offering some stability to the island.
Whilst the main missions were engrossing, the side quests were more about letting off steam and having fun in the environment. This crazy sandbox offers a countless number of side quests to keep you entertained. As a CIA agent, the one thing you are definitely not is inconspicuous, so whilst you’re liberating the various outposts, you are actively tasked with causing as much chaos as possible. As you move between the various drug cartel bosses, you gain trust points, which allow you to level up and gain additional safe houses complete with a new vehicle. The laws of physics really don’t apply here, which is apparent when you start to use the grappling hook to jump on top of vehicles, helicopters and planes. As you parachute from the top of a plane onto a moving vehicle, you are aiming to pull off the best stunt possible, for no real reason at all.
Despite the repetitive elements, it’s still a lot of fun, with a wacky story and daft stunts thrown in. Just Cause is a bizarre game that’s very satisfying and engaging.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
Ubisoft Montreal | Ubisoft | Xbox 360 & Windows
Developers Ubisoft present the sixth game in the series, as you and your squad are sent to defeat a terrorist group in Las Vegas, Nevada.
You play as Logan Keller, an operative of Rainbow, an international counter-terrorist unit, who along with his squad, is dropped off in San Joshua del Mosquiera, a small Mexican border town. Alongside you are Gabriel, Kan, Joanna and Brody. The objective is to hunt down and arrest a terrorist ringleader by the name of Irena Morales. As Brody attempts to land the helicopter, Logan is separated from his squad and you now have the task of navigating the terrorist-infested streets on your own. Soon you meet up with Gabriel and Kan, freeing hostages along the way. After attempting to surprise Irene, Gabriel and Kan are captured, but you are quickly moved to a new assignment in Vegas.
Your new team consists of Michael and Jung Park, whose first task is to save hostages from a casino. After one of the hostages notifies the team about a bomb in another casino, you move to quickly diffuse it, cutting off the terrorist’s communications on the way. Soon Gabriel and Kan are found, however Kan is killed by Irene, but not before revealing that Irena is planning to attack the Nevada Dam. Inside the Dam is a weapons lab, which Irene is using to blow up the Dam. After confronting her, you are tasked with defeating Irene and defusing the bomb. In the finale, Gabriel attempts to escape in the helicopter, after its revealed that he was a mole for Irene. Your final decision is whether to allow Gabriel to escape or to shoot down his helicopter.
This tactical shooter requires you to not only look out for yourself, but your squad too. You can command your squad, whilst you move to cover and you can ask them to breach and continue without you. With a diverse arsenal of weapons, as you fight off waves of enemies, speed and positing is key, as your squad can be tasked with diffusing a bomb, whilst fire rains down around them. The cover system is cleverly devised and the enemy AI is a huge improvement from previous entries in the series. Playing the story cooperatively was really enjoyable and the multiplayer maps, especially the casinos, were incredibly realistic.
Fantastic interactive environments, great voice acting and a solid soundtrack and story, Rainbow Six: Vegas really did breathe life back into the series.
Honorable Mentions:
New Super Mario Bros
Nintendo EAD | Nintendo DS
Wii Sports
Nintendo EAD | Wii
Check out more of our favourites
